FOOD: Leavenworth [Washington State]

Leavenworth Washington is a small Bavarian-styled enclave in the heart of the Wenatchee National Forest in Washington State (about 3 hours east of Seattle). Like any tourist town, the sources of income are volatile, seasonal, and rely on many factors such as weather and the willingness of people to vacation and spend money on non-necessities. For instance, this year, according to anyone you talk to in the PNW, the Pacific Northwest has had its lowest precipitation (snowfall) in nearly 35 years. No snow in the winter mountains of Washington directly equals low tourism rates and in a town like Leavenworth no tourists means loss of income and barren streets. This economical uncertainty also means that in order to draw crowds and keep people coming back the quality of attractions needs to be high, and luckily for us, other than outdoor activities, the attractions in Leavenworth revolve around food and beer.

Andreas Keller Restaurant

If you have ever been to a local Oktoberfest celebration, you can imagine what Leavenworth is like. The difference is that is that instead of being designated to a small park ,the entire town is invested in the German theme. Even the local hospital’s facade is based on antique German-style architecture and design. This [rustic vernacular] style rose to prominence in the Middle Ages in Bavaria and is marked by half-timbered construction that here in the States is likely to conjure images of lederhosen and dirndls , which thanks to the town of Leavenworth’s tourism division, you can view in this extremely uncomfortable tourism video.

There are the four most important parts of any German meal: ‘wursts, ‘krauts, schnitzels, ‘wiezens.

Here we came across two very distinct types of pretzels. From Anreas Keller the consistency was more bread-like. Imagine a loaf of white bread, with a soft thin crust and and moist fluffy center. This type of pretzel does not carry much of its own flavor and is best used to absorb the cream sauce on the Sahne Schnitzel. Across town, at Bavarian Bakery, they serve a very different type of handspun pretzel. Also, importantly, they accept Canadian currency, which is important since every PNW trip should include a jaunt up north. Back to the pretzel; These funny looking twisters are baked daily. The thin part is crunchy and snaps like a breadstick. The pretzel becomes softer and chewier towards the widest part while still retaining a hard and salty outer layer. The croissants follow a similar transformation varying from crunchy to soft.